Wizards

When one imagines wizards, usually knights, mounts, damsels, and dragons come to mind almost exclusively. But would one think of the haunting memories of the holocaust, or any actions Hitler's Nazi Regime took whenever magic-wielding wizards are mentioned? Not likely.

Bakshi's able to pit the essence of fantasy against the monstrosity of an ever-growing being we call "technology." The animation is simple (albeit complex and interesting at times) yet unique, the characters are conflicted and well-developed, and the twisted, somewhat random humor adds a twist of reality in a seemingly hopeless world. Definitely a movie to watch and a movie to criticize in its own rite.

This cartoon was one of those in the seventies when animation was almost dead. A few folks revived it with movies like Fritz the Cat, Lord of the Rings, Fire and Ice and Wizards. Although Wizards didn't do well during the prime time, it rocked as a midnight movie.

But, even with the simple plot, engaging characters and sporadic humor, one gets the impression that this movie was not well-planned. There is conventional animation, rotoscoping and overexposed film sometimes being used on the same screen. It also seems that they ran out of money and had to resort to stills with a narrator (nice voice)...

You'd think that this would make the movie worse; however, it gives the movie a charm that a slicker production wouldn't have...

This is one of the most brilliant movies ever made. Though the film alters in tone quite often from dark and moody to light and whimsical, it's one of my all time favorite movies. It's Ralph Bakshi's first film aimed at children, but it's actually very intense, violent battle sequences, some mild adult language, suggestive material, and some dark themes that are more suited for older audiences. It's a story of Avatar and Blackwolf, two wizard brothers. Avatar rules the peaceful kingdom of Montagar with wisdom and magic, while the evil Blackwolf rules the dark land of Scortch with technology and war.

It's a great combination of science fiction and fantasy set years into a strange post apocalyptic future where broken tanks, guns, and Nazi propaganda are regarded as ancient artifacts. Wonderful supporting characters include Weehawk, a courageous and cynical elf, Elinore, a young fairy princess whom Avatar is in love with, and Necron 99, a robotic assassin who is turned into a good robot named Peace. This movie has a great deal of symbolism and is very thought provoking, it deals with the power of propaganda and the dangers of the over reliance on technology.

I was impressed by the surreal and creative animation, and I was mesmerized by the mystical and otherworldly music score. The film's climax is brilliant and fits the overall tone of the film. Treat yourself to a symbolic retro-future style film loaded with psychedelic animation, memorable characters, and a truly wonderful adventure that will transport you to a whole new world set ten million years into the distant future.

One thing i'll say for Ralph Bakshi's cult classic "Wizards": Its got brains. The whole political allegory coupled with a cautionary tale about fascism, propaganda and the amorality of technology really worked here. Rarely do you get this sort of thing in animated movies back in the 70s. The fact that it is coupled with an overall "fairy tale-ish" look that seems more at home among those cheap "ages 3 to 8" cartoons makes the viewing experience a very unique one.

It really is too bad that so much time and effort went into developing the whole underlying political themes that nothing much else went into the aspects of the film that would matter to most people, aka the dialog and the animation itself.

Though the story is simple enough to follow, the characters come across as just plain boring thanks to, IMO, horribly written lines and sub-par acting. Aside from Blackwolf the evil wizard and his good brother wizard Avatar, the rest of the characters sound like they are reading off a bedtime storybook and not engaging in dialog. Emoting comes in two extremes; either the actors ham up their parts to the point of annoyance, or there is hardly a hint of emotion behind the voices. Dialogue style also seems to inconsistently switch between an archaic "Shakespeare play" style (common in most fairy tale animated movies) and a typical "everyman" speaking style (how me and my neighbor would talk), sometimes within the same scene and by the same character.

I found it really difficult to get emotionally involved in the show. All of them have a stylized and even marginally grotesque look to them. Even the "good guys" like the elves have yellow eyes and sharp teeth; and the sub-standard animation did not help either. The animation is about as bad a cheap Flintstones holiday special with numerous animation short cuts like looping motion, re-used stock footage and out of sync sound effects. A good deal of rotoscoping was thrown in and I usually have no problems with that, Except in this case, the rotoscoped images were not "drawn over". There was no attempt to make the rotoscoped images blend with the style of the animation which led to a very disjointed feel during the battle scenes. The only time this jarring clash of animation styles actually worked was during the final climatic battle where the surreal images and the hauntingly dark rotoscoped footage effectively conveyed the hectic confusion of a real battlefield.(though i question the choice of retro jazzy background music)

To be honest, I found myself rooting most for Blackwolf's green gas-masked soldiers. ("THEY KILLED FRITZ!!"). Their little moments in the film really managed to get a chuckle out of me; they had a certain loony toons-like charm about them.

With a larger budget and a more experienced production team, Wizards could have been an avant garde work of art that entertains as well as conveys a message. What I discovered was an averagely animated film that does convey a message but falls short in the "entertainment" aspect. A couple of witty one liners here and there and some lush painted backgrounds is not enough to save this film from its numerous flaws.

By today's standards, Wizards will hardly be able to garner a mainstream following, nor would it impress the younger viewers anytime soon. It pains me to say this, but Wizards may forever remain as merely a cult classic curiosity of the 70s.

This cult/comic/anime movie ranks right up at the top of the list along with all the good ones - Heavy Metal, American Pop,etc. To the people who say the animation is no good and the story line is horrible I have two points to make: 1. Look at the year it was made. C'mon, trees were entertaining if you drank the right "Kool-Aid". and #2 - you don't like the animation and the story line, yet you can't wait for the new season of South Park to come on. This movie has all the necessary elements for any classic that stays in your heart long after you saw it. Unforgettable characters, one scene that reached out to you and you still can't get it out of your head, and that one catchy line that makes you smile every time you hear it. (For me it will always be "They killed Fritz!") This is a movie to enjoy over and over.